Change of Heart
by LadeA3
Summary: On the run from the village from Konoha, Sasuke has a change of heart because of Hinata Hyuga?


_**Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.**_

_**Summary: Just defeated Naruto. Sasuke's on the run from the village from Konoha, Sasuke has a change of heart... because of Hinata Hyuga?**_

_**Change of Heart**_

Sasuke walked slowly. He was limping as he walked his way towards where he was supposedly supposed to meet Orochimaru. He had approximately another three days before he actually was supposed to be there, but at his pace, he was probably going to be there in six. The rain was pounding on his bruised body heavily, beating him down, violently.

"Damn it. Naruto shouldn't have been able to even touch me. Not only was he able to touch me, but I'm in all this pain," Sasuke cursed himself as he could feel his body becoming more and more weak.

He stopped because the pain was intensifying now. When he noticed a small cottage; he stopped and observed the surroundings making sure nobody was in there. As he expected it was empty, but he knew not for long.

The place was small. It was the average living place for the average person. He took off his shirt and placed it on the fireplace, so it could dry. He did the same with his pants. He sat on the floor slowly, trying not to cause any pain to his badly beaten body. He lay motionless in his underwear. His eyelids slowly motioned together until they were shut. He didn't have time, or care that obviously someone was living here if the fire was lit. He was too exhausted.

Hinata walked into her little cottage slowly. It was pouring outside. She knew that Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, and Kiba were on a retrieval mission for Sasuke Uchiha. So she decided it was her time to go to her small cottage outside of Konoha. It may have been a long way off of Konoha's entrance, but the scenery was beautiful: rain, sunshine, or snow. She would always come here when she had a since of depression in her pride, either from her father, Naruto, or anything of the sort. She needed to come here. It made her feel better on those rough days. Her father would usually not even notice, or didn't care to say anything about it.

She left to go get some more fire wood and to train a little bit when the rain started to pour down. She wondered why the sky cried so much today. Why was it so sad?

She stopped when she noticed a pale body lying motionless near her fireplace. She noticed it was alive because you could hear his breathing. The back faced her and she wondered what the person was doing here besides sleeping. She walked closer, slow, and cautious. His black spiky hair was familiar to her for some reason.

Now, she really wondered what he was doing here. For some reason she felt as if she knew him. She decided she wouldn't bother him because he looked exhausted, and he wasn't in her way or bothering her so she shouldn't bother him. When she noticed him shiver; she decided to get him a blanket. She placed the blanket over him and placed more wood in the fireplace. _He looked so innocent while he slept_, she thought.

She scurried her way to the kitchen and started on what she would prepare for dinner.

Sasuke's nose flared at the smell of the food. He slowly opened his eyes. He noticed that something covered over his half naked body. He got up slowly. His body was horrifically sore.

His stomach growled as his feet followed where his nose was leading him. He looked around noticing nobody was there. He looked into the pot where the food was, it looked like beef stew.

Sasuke decided he would get some after he washed his hands. He started his way wandering the hall to find the bathroom.

When he found it, he walked in; cautious, making sure nobody was in there. Realizing nobody was in there he walked directly to the sink and started to wash his hands. He looked in the mirror at his face. His face was paler than usual and his face had scratches and such all over it. He turned on the cold water and splashed it over his face. When the cold water hit his bare skin, he shivered. He did not notice that his clothes were still on the fireplace. He walked out of the bathroom.

Hinata walked into the house. She had just gone to take out the trash when she noticed that her intruder/guest was not in his resting place where he was before.

"Where'd he go?" she asked, softly, curious.

She stirred the stew and then looked for him. She stood in front of the fireplace looking at the clothing that hung from it. She touched it.

"What are you doing?" she heard a male voice ask her.

She turned around and started from feet up, his pale skin, literally, sparkled in the florescent light. His chiseled chest was a beautiful thing to stare at, but when she went to his face her mouth dropped.

"S-Sasuke?" she choked out, surprised. _No wondered the hair looked so familiar_, she thought.

His eyes were lifeless, but then they became curious.

"Do I know you?"

"T-that doesn't s-surprise me that y-you d-don't know m-me," she said sadly. Nobody never knew her unless as the weak Hyuga heiress or Naruto's stalker.

His eyes widen, "Hinata, the Hyuga?" he asked, confused.

"S-so y-you know w-who I am?" she asked, a little cheerful.

"Not really, I know of you. Sometimes Naruto talks about you." her face lightened up.

"Yes, but barely how you're red in the face and faint a lot," he said, uncaring.

Her face became disappointed.

Sasuke walked over to the fireplace and started to put on his clothing. He was a slight curious as of why she hadn't attacked his bare chest.

'She's different," he thought.

He was curious why she sounded so happy when he said something about Naruto. He tried to remember one of those rare conversations he would have with Sakura.

"_Naruto is such an idiot. He's always coming after me when Hinata's is always in his shadows waiting for him to notice her. She was one of the only ones who ever recognized him as a real person, even before the Academy.'_

Sasuke never listened to her because she was being hypocritically. He wondered how she could talk about Naruto being rejected by her so many times when she didn't give up coming after him.

He watched as her face was saddened by his word.

"Do you have feelings for Naruto?" he asked seriously.

Her face was flushed by the question. Her face was redder than a tomato.

"N-N…" she couldn't even say the word.

"I'll take that as a yes, but why?" he was sincerely curious as of why she was more interested in Naruto than him.

"Because," she said dreamily, "Naruto is an amazing person. He has never stopped fighting, no matter how people disrespected him and turned him away. He's my idol and one day, I hope he will recognize me as someone slightly close to him."

He looked at her. She walked into the kitchen and took two bowls out of the cabinet.

"What do you think about me?" he asked walking closer into the kitchen.

"I think you are a misunderstood person. People take you as 'mysterious' but you only do that because you don't want to seem weak. Your brother killed your clan and made you feel weak. Now you want to avenge your clan because you want to feel the power you didn't have then and kill your brother for the reasons that you grieved. Why did he kill your family? Nobody knows and you probably won't know until he is breathing his last breath. For some reason, I feel he didn't do it purposely like he was…forced, but he didn't kill you because he loved you and he wants you to kill him because he knows the guilt will eat at him. You only want revenge and power because you believe you can't get it in Konoha, but how many great ninjas come from Konoha? You're going to Orochimaru who came out of Konoha. What do I think of you? I think you're a coward because you go to the enemy to get power. That's why I admire Naruto and do not drool all over your feet because Naruto works for what he wants; you doesn't just buy it at the grocery store. The one thing I don't get Uchiha is why you have to get power from Orochimaru. You're Sasuke Uchiha one of the last of your clan. You have something nobody else has. You could kill Itachi without Orochimaru with the right sensei because I know Naruto will be Hokage one day. I also know that you're going to kill your brother with or without Orochimaru."

Sasuke only stared at her. Nobody had ever had the guts to ever tell him that and the thing he was more surprised by that most of what she said was probably right.

"Y-You t-think I-I'm a c-coward," he said still surprised.

"Don't get me wrong you have a cute face, nice body, I can't say anything about your personality because I don't know it. Nobody knows the true you because you don't show it. You look down on the world wondering why you have to live with these 'lower life forms.' I always wondered what the difference between the three of us were and I think I've figured it out. You and I have been able to share bonds with others, but Naruto has not. He doesn't know what it is like to have a biological mother or father, but that doesn't make him unable to understand. I realized that you're probably the luckiest one out of the three of us. You've been able to feel a bond of love and hatred. I've felt a bond of love, hatred, betrayal and disapproval. You, like me have always wanted approval from your father when you were little and when you got it. It was amazing, but that's where we differ. I haven't been that lucky. I'm the weak heiress of the Hyuga clan and Neji's the clan's genius who was lucky to be born, but was cursed because he was born under the lower branch. My father says, 'Neji was born lucky and that I was lucky to be born.'"

Sasuke could only stare in disbelief. Her family was alive but treated her as if she didn't exist. His family did not exist but the world treated him as a prodigy. He was the prodigy of the Uchiha clan, but that was only because he lived in his brother shadow. Neji was her cousin, her branch overshadowed his but he overshadowed her. He wondered who life was worst. A life where you don't exist or the people you love don't exist?

"I understand but what does that have to do with Naruto?"

"There is a thin line between love and hate that is true but what about a bond? Your bond starts with your family and then your friends. Naruto hasn't had either, until he became a genin. Iruka is like a father to Naruto, his mother most likely is Lady Tsundae, but he feels and thinks of you as a brother. You say your family is dead but what about all does people who care about you in the village."

"The village doesn't care about me; they only care about what I can do for them," he shouted.

"Well, what about Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Neji, Ino, Ten-Ten, Lee, Shino, Lady Tsundae, Kakashi sensei,…me? How dare you say nobody cares? Has your heart fully been engulfed by the darkness or are you just that stubborn?" she said, shouting now. She felt as though she was about to cry.

Sasuke was quiet. He didn't know what to say. He felt intrigued to argue back, but what could he say. She was right. They did care, all of them. Maybe he wasn't running away just to get power, but running away from his life, everyone who loved him because…because maybe he wanted to be alone and not have to go through a bond…or losing one.

"You're right I'll give you that, but what is my purpose of going back? You say so many people care, but why should I start a bond with anybody if it will eventually come to an end, like everything else in this world?"

Now it was Hinata's turn to be silent.

She started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked angry.

"You are a coward. You are afraid of losing a bond because they will die, but that is inevitable. Life equals death. People say they are born to make a difference or to say that is their dream but in reality, in the world we live and you are born to die. If there is life there is death. Where there is love there is hatred, jealously. In every problem, there is a solution and with every right there is a wrong, but the only reason all these things exist because we have a choice of which path we will follow. Most choose the wrong over the right. That is why there is less love and more hate, more death than life. I wondered what path you would take because there was a point when I did admire you, but my eyes turned to Naruto. I wondered what I would do when I had a choice of right and wrong and who I would look to answer the question…myself or someone else. Who did you look to?" she asked smiling.

"Right now I'm looking to you," he said looking at her with his onyx eyes connecting deeply with her lavender ones.

Hinata's eyes widened, "Why? I can't do anything or help anyone,"

"You've helped me. You've helped me see clearer. I've never met someone like you. No one would have ever told me off like that. That's where you and Naruto are the same you have guts. Maybe I am a coward…" he trailed off, "But." He bit his lip, "A bond is what is slowing me down. I can't go anywhere because I have friends…"

"Really then why haven't you left yet? You need friends because they challenge you to be better for yourself and help you accomplish things when you can't do it on your own." She started to cry, "I'm lucky I guess because just like me, Naruto and I were first to start friendship with our teammates, Kiba and Shino are the best teammates I've had and I wouldn't trade them for anything else."

Sasuke felt his heart skip a few beats. He felt something once she started to cry.

"I-I'm s-sorry," he said softly, sincere.

"Here comes the guilt trip. I don't need you to feel sorry for me," she said wiping away her tears.

"I wasn't giving you sympathy. I was apologizing for my rude behavior. You are too nice and cute to see the rude side of me. I was just aggravated that you could read me so well."

Hinata had no words, her mouth dropped. 'Cute? And why was he being so nice? She had to make sure to keep her guard up,' she thought.

"You shouldn't keep your mouth open, bugs could fly in, or other things" he said, licking his lips, smiling approaching her. He placed his hand under her chin and closed her mouth. He walked towards the pot and put some of the stew in a bowl and started to eat.

"Hinata?" he said looking towards her, "do you mind if I stay here for the next couple of days?"

"Sure," she said skeptical.

Unknown to Hinata, Sasuke was sincere and pure in his thoughts all he really wanted was to keep a clear head for now. He wanted to figure out which would be better for him and whether or not he should leave the village. But for some reason he wanted to stay with Hinata. He wanted to be with her and help her through her troubled times. He wanted to make her feel the strength she didn't, the recognition she didn't have, the one to let her feel loved and not be within the circle of hatred and jealously. He wondered why he felt the way he did. He always thought he would be the loner because nobody would really make him happy, but she was different. He never noticed her maybe that's why he never felt or knew he could feel this way. Maybe this was his reason for living besides killing his brother or maybe she was the one who would help him defeat his brother.

Maybe that's the answer…

"Hinata?" Sasuke asked raising his body from the seat.

"Yes, Sasuke," Hinata asked. She had also gotten her a bowl and started to eat some food.

"Can I ask you something?" she nodded, "If I was more like Naruto would like me better?"

"Probably not because I'd know you were trying to be Naruto. If you were yourself I would probably feel something for you…"

"And…" Sasuke trailed off leaning closer into Hinata's personal space. Hinata could feel his breath on her face as his lips became closer to hers. When the contact came Hinata could feel something she had never felt before. She blocked off Sasuke's tongue as in tried in insert itself inside of her mouth. She soon released her tension. She felt right kissing Sasuke. Her hands went roaming around on the top of his head through his spiky hair. His hands wrapped around her waist as he pulled her closer to his body out of the chair she was sitting in.

They tongues violently attacked each other's mouth. Taking in every part and remembering it as a landmark as where they had been and hoping they would soon return.

Sasuke released his lips from Hinata's and gasped.

"Now that's the answer,"

"The answer?"

"The answer to whether I should return and you are my reason to return to the village. I wanted to see if you would reject me as long as you didn't I would have a chance. It shows your heart doesn't fully belong to Naruto. A part is still waiting to be occupied and I'm making sure I'm the one who does it. For some reason, you make me happy, like how I felt with my family. Like I can tell you anything and can trust you, but I know it will be a challenge for you to trust me, but I want you to know that I'm choosing my path and you are leading my way. I want you to be able to tell me when you're sad so I can make you feel better or when you have a bad day. I want to be there and besides if I leave how much will I lose out on and besides if we work together we'll both get stronger. I don't know what it is but you've given me a reason to have a change of heart."

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